Unnata is excited to announce our new short promo video! Of course there’s plenty of info about Unnata right here on our website, but we’ve produced this short video to help explain what Unnata is and how it works in both words and moving images.

Our good friend — and Unnata teacher — Elizabeth Ayers brought a 12-person film production crew up to NY, and we spent a day filming at the Sacred Sounds Yoga center here in NYC. Video editing is by NY friend Tim Guetterman. And finally, the wonderful voiceover was recorded by NY aerialist-turned-actress, Cody Schreger. Great work everyone!

I am lucky to live in the same city as Master Yogi Dharma Mittra. Dharma is one of the few Yoga teachers alive today who has received traditional teachings directly from a guru, and practiced those teachings for over 50 years. An authentic Yoga practice is not limited to the physical exercises of asana. It includes dietary guidelines, ethics, breathing techniques, meditation techniques, and more. These limbs of an authentic Yoga practice help us transition from a small, limited perception of life to a larger perspective of wholeness, which inspires a sense of internal calm. Anyone who studies with Dharma can see his authenticity; and for those of us who wish to pursue Yoga studies beyond physical fitness, we cherish our opportunities to study with this Master Yogi.

But I’m not writing this message to convince you to take classes with Sri Dharma Mittra. Instead, I want to inspire you to take classes with teachers in addition to Dharma Mittra.

Unnata Aerial Yoga has been featured as number 2 of the 8 new styles of Yoga “You Need to Try!”

“Aerial yoga has definitely caught on in the past few years, and it’s easy to see why. Who wouldn’t love to invert with ease, with the added bonus of feeling weightless?

Unnata Aerial Yoga got the Aerial ball rolling, and is a traditional yoga asana class that uses a hammock hung from the ceiling to help you with many of the traditional floor postures. Sometimes your body is partially supported by the hammock, and sometimes it’s supported fully.

Give this awesome style of yoga a try the next time you get a chance, and find Unnata Aerial Yoga.”

In an exclusive study featured on the cover of their January 2016 issue of ProSource, The AMERICAN COUNCIL ON EXERCISE (ACE) found that “regular participation in Aerial Yoga improves cardiorespiratory fitness and positively modifies several major CVD risk factors.”

While the Unnata® Aerial Yoga method is designed to deliver an authentic Yoga experience rather than being just a fancy exercise or fitness class, it’s reassuring to know that the entire Aerial Yoga spectrum offers powerful health benefits for its practitioners.

The American Council on Exercise (ACE) certifies fitness and personal trainers in the US.

According to the ACE study, “sixteen healthy women between the ages of 18 and 45 years old were recruited to participate in the study, which involved a six-week intervention with three 50-minute sessions per week (18 total). The same qualified instructor led all sessions and one make-up session was available each week.”

The study goes on to report that “at the conclusion of the six-week Aerial Yoga program, there were significant improvements in the following cardiometabolic risk factors: weight, body-fat percentage, waist circumference, V• O2max, systolic blood pressure and HDL cholesterol.”

Those are pretty powerful results!

The researchers were especially surprised at the drop in blood pressure, since all participants had a normal blood pressure range before the study began. Researchers suggested that “participants found the Aerial Yoga to be helpful for relieving stress, and stated that future research to study the effect of this type of exercise on stress levels and mood may be warranted.”

The full article is quite technical in nature — it’s an exercise physiology organization — but we invite you to read it over on the ACE Fitness website.

Here below, is the final paragraph:

THE BOTTOM LINE: Findings from this study support Aerial Yoga as an alternative to traditional exercise modalities for adults, as this novel form of yoga yields metabolic responses in the moderate-intensity range. Regular participation in Aerial Yoga improves cardiorespiratory fitness and positively modifies several major CVD risk factors.

Stated simply, according to Dr. Dalleck, “Aerial Yoga proves to be a great alternative form of exercise with benefits in line with other, more popular forms of exercise.” It should be the goal of any health and fitness professional, Dr. Dalleck reminds us, to find an effective mode of exercise that accommodates the needs of each individual client or participant, while also being enjoyable.

I recently had the misfortune of experiencing a severe allergic reaction. My skin erupted in all-over itching and burning, aggravated by all elements – heat, water, wind, and touch. Within a few days, my entire existence became intolerably irritated.

Up until that moment, my skin had been a guardian angel – a shield from external assaults, and a safe-keeper of my internal vitals. This time, however, the skin was being attacked from the inside, not the outside, and quite understandably, it reacted dramatically.

Once the reaction had downgraded from a potential life-threat of windpipe closure to just miserably uncomfortable, I knew all I could do was wait for my body to complete its stages of allergic response. I then reflected on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra 1.30: “These are the obstacles that bring disturbance to the mind: disease, lack of effort, loss of interest, inapplication, attraction to things physical, false perceptions, lack of concentration, inability to maintain any achievements gained.” (Translation: Kofi Busia 1998)Read More

Stephanie Paz is currently a teacher at Sacred Sounds Yoga in Manhattan. She received her 200 hour Yoga certification in June of 2014 at Sacred Sounds Yoga and she recieved her Unnata® Aerial Yoga certification in February of 2015. Stephanie is also a practicing visual artist. You can read more about her as well as see her teaching schedule at www.stephaniepaz.com

Firstly, I must tell you how significant and life changing this style of yoga has been for me and others I am close with. Michelle’s class was the first group yoga class I’d ever gone to, back in 2009. Prior to that, I did yoga along with videos to help my chronic low back pain. The asanas in the silks, along with the chanting, meditation and pranayama Michelle integrated into this class changed everything for me. It healed me in so many ways. Without the physical release from pain I would not have been able to open my heart, soul, and mind in the ways I have. Unnata has been a true blessing in my life.

Thank you so much for having chosen Unnata® Yoga for your Aerial Yoga teacher training. We’re sincerely honored to have you as part of our community of dedicated professional aerial yoga teachers.

Membership Renewal

If you’re reading this, it’s likely been a year since your last renewal (or initial teacher training with membership included), and we’re now inviting you to renew your membership and license to the Unnata Aerial Yoga community for another year.

When you renew your Unnata membership, your participation helps the entire Unnata community grow and prosper. And for yourself, you’ll have access to the continuing support, education, and benefits available to our members such as the Unnata Yoga teachers’ Facebook group (active and frequent discussions from over 200 passionate and experienced Unnata teacher members!), access to educational videos and classes, use of the Unnata brand name and logo in order to distinguish yourself from other generic aerial yoga teachers or techniques and a listing on the Teacher Locator section of the Unnata website. And now, studio owners can renew all of their Unnata teachers’ memberships for a reduced multi-license fee.

The Road Ahead

We’re continuing to expand the support system we’ve created for graduates of Unnata Aerial Yoga teacher training programs, and we’d love for you to continue to contribute to, and benefit from that effort.

In addition to curating the Facebook group just for Unnata Yoga teachers, and promoting you and your classes through the aerialyoga.com website, we’re adding translations of the website into different languages, creating more advanced and continuing education training courses, supplying reviews and updates of the Unnata Aerial Yoga method, and offering on-line Unnata Aerial Yoga classes.

Importantly, we’re also pursuing and obtaining trademark protection for the Unnata Yoga name in several countries besides the US (including Japan, Russia, China, Brazil, Canada, and the EU), in order to help the global public understand the special difference that is Unnata Yoga.

Our goal is to serve you and all Unnata Yoga teachers as best as possible, so please let us know how your classes have been going, and if there is anything that can be done for you, or if you have any questions or suggestions. Your feedback is invaluable.

Michelle Dortignac and Unnata Yoga have been featured in TWO articles in this month’s edition (July/Aug 2015) of Yoga Journal magazine!

It’s so exciting to see how Aerial Yoga has grown to become a lasting and legitimate example of the many new faces of Traditional Yoga.

For almost 10 years now, Unnata Yoga has strived to remain a true Yoga class at its core — a class which incorporates the use of the silk aerial apparatus to expand and compliment the traditional floor practice.

In the FIRST article, entitled Learn to Fly with Aerial Yoga, Yoga Journal writer Karen Macklin explores the ways in which an Aerial Yoga practice such as Unnata Aerial Yoga can help practitioners “find more length in your spine and safe alignment in your poses” on the floor.

One of the most important points emphasized by our own Michelle Dortignac, is the way in which Aerial Yoga can support and inform your floor practice. “When a new student drapes over the hammock, in Down Dog, for example, gravity does the work for them,” she says. “The hammock helps with lengthening and creating internal space. Once we give students that feeling in the hammock, they’ll have the memory of what that was like, and take it with them to their floor practice.”

The SECOND article was written by Michelle Dortignac herself — especially for this edition of Yoga Journal magazine.